Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 184. Indochina War (1)
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In December 1953, a coup erupted in the puppet regime that France had hastily established, the Empire of South Vietnam.
“The incompetent imperial family cannot represent the Vietnamese people.”
As a result of the coup, the empire led by Emperor Bao Dai was immediately abolished.
However, Ngo Dinh Diem was not a leader with a strong base, so the political situation remained unstable for a while.
If I take the lead, follow me.
Ngo Dinh Diem raised the banner of Korean-style democracy and set about reorganizing the nation.
“Those guys still seem confused. Looks like we could sweep them away in one go.”
Seeing the chaos in South Vietnam's political sphere, North Vietnam sensed an opportunity for communist unification.
Finally, the North Vietnamese Politburo resolved to go to war.
“There are no such things as lines drawn on maps by imperialists. Do not miss the chance to unify the fatherland.”
The Vietnam People's Army immediately launched an offensive.
But unexpectedly, the People's Army failed to overrun South Vietnam in a single stroke.
“These commie bastards, dreaming of communist unification?”
Forces like the Hoa Hao Buddhists and Caodaists, who had coordinated with the Viet Minh during the anti-French struggle only to get stabbed in the back, along with 900,000 North Vietnamese refugees, stood with the South Vietnamese and put up fierce resistance.
The military faction that had seized real power also gripped the massive arsenal left by France and the 200,000-strong South Vietnamese army, resisting ferociously.
As the war dragged on longer than expected, the United States took notice.
To be precise, McCarthy barked.
“If we're just going to stand by and watch Vietnam go communist, we might as well intervene ourselves. What the hell is the Stevenson administration doing!”
Everyone was sick of McCarthy's red-baiting, but they agreed that they couldn't just let the communist reds expand their influence.
“Let's ramp up aid for now.”
The United States began sending massive amounts of financial and military supplies to South Vietnam.
“Now we just print it, and it's like money's being photocopied!”
The military-industrial complex, eager for a new war, let out cheers of joy.
In the original timeline, the complex would have been schooled by Eisenhower, but not here.
Stevenson didn't know the military as well as Eisenhower did.
Naturally, he felt less need to check the military-industrial complex.
A powerful military-industrial complex + anti-communist logic + a president lacking military experience.
Without these three factors aligning, the U.S. wouldn't have jumped in so quickly.
Ho Chi Minh was flustered by the situation.
“Uh, so the world's number one power is sending support to the other side against us?”
They had experienced it against France, but standing against the United States was truly agonizing.
“Teacher Ho, this won't do. We need to request support from the Soviets too.”
Of course, even Soviet support didn't guarantee the volume.
In the original timeline, they would have received ample aid from the communist bloc via China, but here they absolutely had to go by sea.
Unfortunately, that sea was dominated by Korea and the United States.
“First, sound out Moscow on their willingness to provide support.”
Ho Chi Minh made the decision.
When North Vietnam's request for support arrived, Moscow immediately convened a Politburo meeting.
Following typical bloc logic, the Soviet leadership decided to help North Vietnam for the time being.
The American bastards had run wild in Turkey, so the Federation needed to show them what for.
“Everyone seems agreed on helping North Vietnam. The issue is how to provide support. Do you think the Yankee imperialists will just sit back and watch?”
“Then it's war.”
The military raised the specter of war again.
The Soviet government might fear nukes, but the Soviet military, with its overwhelming conventional forces, didn't fear them much.
So what if the enemy dropped a hundred nukes?
Just send in follow-up waves after one front army got vaporized.
Malenkov put the brakes on this shocking talk.
“That won't do.”
Khrushchev agreed.
“Talk of war just because the Yankees interfere is going too far. Let's send support first and see how things play out.”
The Soviets dispatched a fleet for the time being.
The Soviet fleet was soon detected by the United States and Britain.
From the moment it entered the Suez Canal, a major waterway, it couldn't escape surveillance.
“The reds seem to be trying to ship supplies to Vietnam. Can we just let that slide?”
The U.S. government agonized over the issue.
“If we touch that, the reds are sure to flip out. Is it worth stirring up Europe over some peripheral Asian country?”
“True, if Europe gets messy over an Asian issue, it doesn't balance out.”
If the reds sent supplies anyway, the U.S. could just send more.
That was how the Stevenson administration sorted it out internally.
As the Indochina War heated up, the world's eyes began turning toward the Far East.
“A war ends, and another one starts right away?”
The world trembled at yet another large-scale conflict.
And the repeated proxy war crises instilled a fresh sense of urgency in the Germans.
“This won't do. How can we entrust our nation's fate to a weak regime like Adenauer's? With Germany facing a proxy war crisis, we need a stronger party and leadership. And who might that be?”
“The Reform Union!”
The Reform Union capitalized on the war crisis and finally surpassed the CDU in approval ratings.
Their takeover in the next election was a foregone conclusion.
Seeing this, the Soviets solidified their suspicion that the West was preparing a proxy war in Germany.
“Which is why we must strengthen our military.”
The head of the Soviet military, Marshal Zhukov, spoke on behalf of the army in a hardline tone, demanding an arms buildup.
“But if we pour money into arms like that, what about economic growth?”
“Security is the issue right now—do we have the luxury to worry about the economy? Think back to the Great Patriotic War.”
The Great Patriotic War.
For the Soviets, it was a kind of trauma.
European Russia had been laid waste, and over ten million had died.
The aftereffects still lingered throughout the Federation.
Such a thing must never happen again.
Faced with the military's ironclad security logic, the bureaucrats could muster no counterarguments.
“What does Comrade Khrushchev think?”
“I agree to the arms increase.”
If Khrushchev had been the absolute number one, he could have shut down Zhukov.
But the current Khrushchev didn't have that stature.
With Malenkov holding the representative authority for the state and Zhukov gripping the military power, Khrushchev couldn't move freely.
The Soviet Union began explosively ramping up its arms buildup, using the Indochina conflict as the trigger.
In response, the United States reacted.
“The reds increasing their arms is a ploy to test our resolve. We absolutely cannot back down.”
The U.S. couldn't lag behind either.
As the leader of the free world, it needed to clearly show the reds it wouldn't cede Western Europe.
“Increase it.”
The U.S.-Soviet arms race, which had seemed to pause briefly after the Italian War ended, reignited.
The only great power free from the arms race was Korea.
Korea kept investing the capital freed up by its peace dividend into technology.
The U.S. and Soviets weren't blind to this picture.
They plainly watched Korea keep sucking up the honey and growing.
They understood Korea was turning into a fearsome competitor.
Yet they couldn't stop the arms race because there was an irreconcilable gulf between communism and capitalism.
Fundamentally, Anglo-American capitalists didn't trust the reds.
What basis was there to trust reds who would spark revolutions and seize property at the first chance?
The Soviet proletariat felt the same.
“What reason do we have to trust imperialist capitalist bastards who pounce to exploit and bind us in chains of oppression at the first opportunity?”
Neither side trusted the other at all, so promises meant nothing.
They saw them merely as ways to buy time to stab the other in the back.
Khrushchev understood this dynamic wasn't good.
‘If we keep competing like this, the only one laughing will be Korea.’
He had to break this mad arms race momentum before that happened.
Khrushchev believed the answer lay in nukes.
The doomsday weapon that could sweep everything away.
If they held hundreds or thousands of nukes, couldn't they skimp on conventional forces?
Nukes would ultimately replace all military power.
Khrushchev sincerely believed that.
The problem was the Soviet military's backlash against disarmament.
Given the already lofty status of the Soviet military, cutting arms wasn't something to touch lightly.
That was a task for after he became number one and seized absolute power.
And that would take Khrushchev a lot of time.
It wasn't like they could suddenly sprint to chase Korea.
‘If only we could cash in on a peace dividend like Lee Yi-sejun.’
But the Federation couldn't.
How could they mimic Pyongyang's position when they were complete enemies with the West on security?
It was a pipe dream.
Even as it clearly felt Korea breathing down its neck, the Soviet Union made another bold move.
“If the Yankees are ramping up arms, we must intensify our own buildup even more.”
The same went for foreign interventions.
It needed to shift from existing military and financial aid to North Vietnam toward more direct involvement.
“Dispatch a military advisory group to North Vietnam.”
Unable to withstand the military's hardline stance, Khrushchev dipped a foot into the Vietnam quagmire.
Now the Vietnam War was no longer a mere civil war.
It had become an international conflict entangled with the two superpowers, America and the Soviets.
Just six months after the Italian War's end.
The mild air of post-Cold War thawed replaced once more by the cold, chilling air of the Cold War.